Most of you know we had our first positive case of COVID-19 at ZSE so we’ll just get right into that.
Last week we had an employee get tested for COVID-19 after their spouse exhibited symptoms and later tested positive. That person removed themselves from work as soon as there was a suspicion of sickness but as you know, the process of getting a test and then getting results takes time. Tech Ops was able to get a cleaning contract all lined up and ready to go as soon as results were available. Monday evening, the positive test result came in and at 1am Tuesday, ZSE went ATC-0 for a full control room decontamination. The cleaning took about an hour and a half inside the control room. They then cleaned any public areas the person was known to visit along with hallways, door handles, etc. We were under the impression that everyone working a swing on the night in question would have the contact tracing questionnaire completed but the flight surgeon has identified the specific people they wanted to hear from and all that has since been completed. As far as the FAA is concerned, this process has been completed but please let us know if you have any questions or worries.
COVID Testing
As you all have seen, this process has been changing constantly but here is what we know right now. If you get a test, it should be reported to the Flight Surgeon. They will in turn, revoke your medical at that time and report that to your facility. This happens regardless of you showing symptoms or not. What we are seeing is that if you are already on your EA week, the facility does nothing. When it gets to your work week, they are putting people on SL. What we are hearing from National is that people without symptoms that are DQ’d by the Flight Surgeon should be on EA but that message is taking a long time to trickle down on the management side. Please continue to do what’s required but just know you may be charged SL at least initially.
Training
This is the subject of most of the questions we are hearing lately. The best answer we can give you is that even at the highest levels, resuming in person training is not the highest priority right now since COVID cases are at an all time high. No agreements have been made and no plans have been announced. Basically, this means for the most part, no “official” training is to take place at all. That being said, the FAA is getting itchy about people being paid to stay home and are trying to figure out how to fix that. NATCA agrees that at some point, training must resume. Our staffing crisis will not be remedied without training but it must be done by balancing the safety of the CPCs and Staff Specialists along with ensuring a useful and quality experience for the developmentals. With all that being said, people assigned to the training department fall in a different category. The Training Department is in the process of developing virtual training for those employees.
EA
Excused Absence was negotiated as a part of COVID scheduling to provide the FAA with an extra layer of protection should a facility have a positive case. It was meant as a means to physically separate the workforce as much as possible to limit cross contamination. We say all that to say, there may come a time when you have to do work stuff on your EA days but normally you’ll be briefed first. As always, ask a rep if something doesn’t seem right.
Stay Safe,
Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore